Las Familias Del Pueblo Organization

For more than a year, Rene Godoy worked at the Bel Air Car Wash on North La Brea Avenue, but there was no record of his employment on the company's books and he received no salary. Godoy's only pay was the tips he received from some of the customers whose cars he dried with an old rag after they came through the cleaning machines at the car wash. Then, the Los Angeles office of the U.S.

The statistics are numbing. Studies show that 100,000 to 160,000 people in the city of Los Angeles are homeless during the course of a year and 40,000 families live in converted garages. The problem is so severe that Mayor Tom Bradley has made affordable housing his top priority. To meet the demand for temporary shelter, the number of homeless refuges grew and shelter beds increased 25% in the county last year, to nearly 8,000.

The statistics are numbing. Studies show that 100,000 to 160,000 people in the city of Los Angeles are homeless during the course of a year and 40,000 families live in converted garages. The problem is so severe that Mayor Tom Bradley has made affordable housing his top priority. To meet the demand for temporary shelter, the number of homeless refuges grew and shelter beds increased 25% in the county last year, to nearly 8,000.

They are just 30 plain rooms in the hotel at the corner of 5th and Main streets, the bleakest sector of Los Angeles' Skid Row, but they fairly glowed Tuesday with pastel paint, humming refrigerators and bright skylights. Once a flophouse called the Pennsylvania Hotel, the squat, two-story structure has been renamed the Genesis Hotel and transformed through the novel efforts of a church and a synagogue. City officials in attendance at an official opening Tuesday predicted that the renovation could act as the catalyst for a new era of private involvement in rebuilding Skid Row. More than 60 Skid Row hotels, which in years past provided a way station for newcomers arriving at downtown bus and train stations, as well as long-term housing for many elderly, today are considered powerful contributors to the cycle of poverty among the 10,000 people believed to live in the neighborhood.

They are just 30 plain rooms in the hotel at the corner of 5th and Main streets, the bleakest sector of Los Angeles' Skid Row, but they fairly glowed Tuesday with pastel paint, humming refrigerators and bright skylights. Once a flophouse called the Pennsylvania Hotel, the squat, two-story structure has been renamed the Genesis Hotel and transformed through the novel efforts of a church and a synagogue. City officials in attendance at an official opening Tuesday predicted that the renovation could act as the catalyst for a new era of private involvement in rebuilding Skid Row. More than 60 Skid Row hotels, which in years past provided a way station for newcomers arriving at downtown bus and train stations, as well as long-term housing for many elderly, today are considered powerful contributors to the cycle of poverty among the 10,000 people believed to live in the neighborhood.

The landlord of a South-Central Los Angeles apartment building on Tuesday became the third owner in less than two years to be convicted of maintaining slum conditions at the property. After pleading guilty in Los Angeles Municipal Court to 10 violations of fire, health, building and safety codes at 124 W. 22nd St., Hector F. Flores, 48, of Downey, was ordered to pay $10,079 in fines, penalty assessments and restitution.

January 18, 1990 | DAVID FERRELL and JOCELYN STEWART, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Roofs were leaking. Homeless shelters were jammed to capacity. Firewood sales were up, ice cream sales were down. Drivers on bald tires were finally shelling out for new ones. The flu bug and the ski bug were out in force. All over Los Angeles, the signs of winter were apparent on Wednesday, as jarring, in their way, as a four-lane road closure. The cold, rainy weather--with temperatures dropping into the 40s--was playing havoc with car washes and swap meets. Sidewalk cafes were closed.

A purple carillon tower rises 125 feet above Hill Street, with a big pink globe dangling from its pinnacle. Canary yellow walls embrace an open-air cafe and citrus trees poke up from a rose-colored walkway. A waterfall cascades into a fountain that simulates tidal ebbs and flows. Coming upon those features in Downtown Los Angeles, even longtime residents may be disoriented.

For more than a year, Rene Godoy worked at the Bel Air Car Wash on North La Brea Avenue, but there was no record of his employment on the company's books and he received no salary. Godoy's only pay was the tips he received from some of the customers whose cars he dried with an old rag after they came through the cleaning machines at the car wash. Then, the Los Angeles office of the U.S.